Babysitting Alexander

Maddy and I babysat Alexander tonight while his parents attended a Polynesian Function downtown. Brought back a lot of memories of when Maddy was a baby and what I had to do to take care of him. It didn't turn out all too bad either as he only cried when he was uncomfortable and hungry.

When they arrived, he was fast asleep. We placed him on one of Maddy's bunk bed matresses on the floor in the lounge and he slept for another 30 minutes. He loves to sleep on his stomach and when I tried to put him on his back, he wasn't having it, so I just left him.

When he woke up, he knew he was not in familiar territory and kept staring and frowning at Maddy and I when we talked and sang songs to him. As soon as the "Neh" cry came, it was time to feed him. One 3/4 small bottle later, burp, poop, change and almost asleep, he cried for more milk. That put him to sleep for another 30-45 minutes until he became uncomfortable and stirred and wanted to be picked up. I changed his diaper again as it was soaked and then he tried reaching for my breast LOL He wanted more milk!!

After having another bottle he was full! Didn't put him to sleep though because as soon as he heard his parents voices, he was wide awake and alert, looking around for them.

We had a nice time with Alexander and Maddy was such a great little helper!!!

Having Fun at the Kids Area

As soon as we finished watching the movie "Hulk", Maddy wanted to play at the kids area so off we went for about hour. It didn't take him long to make new friends either and when it was time to go, it was hard to pry him away from them LOL.

Maddy and his posse

With Mr Bear

With Little Bumble Bee

Time Out

Pee Wee Swimmers

Yay, finally booked swimming lessons for Maddy at Providence Rec Center on July 7th. He has 8 sessions, from Monday through to Thursday for two weeks (30 minutes) and once he's completed that, and passed, he'll move onto the next Pee Wee class hopefully in August before school starts up again. Daddy will be taking some time off to take him to his lessons - father/son bonding time before he leaves again on July 21 for Belize and Guatemala.

Maddy's birthday is coming up and we still haven't decided what to do. He's been invited to Alex T's birthday July 12 at 'Pump it Up', a private party zone featuring gigantic, soft, interactive fun-filled inflatables, like the place where Nanna and his Aunty's took us to for his 4th birthday in New Zealand. That was a lot of fun and no doubt Maddy is going to love it.

I think we will keep it low key this year and have it a little earlier so we can celebrate it when his Grandma and Aunt from NZ and Connecticut come down mid July and before Daddy travels again. It's going to be hard though because Maddy has already written out his list and he's invited most of his class LOL ummm I did tell him 5 friends didn't I? LOL

Speaking About Hair ...

Take a look at this baby picture of Maddy when he was 14 months old and his hair. Looks like Micah's doesn't it? So you see Sachi, it definitely runs in your family ha ha!

To All the Dad's

Last Day of School

Both Kindergarten classes joined together to host a Hawaiian theme picnic and games for the last day of school. The kids had fun chasing each other, throwing water balloons, hula hoop'ing, limbo'ing, and sorts, as well as eating pizza, watermelon , oranges and yummy flavoured ice-cream. Here are a few pictures of the last day of school.

Hula Hoops

Musical Towels

Maddy with his buddy Michael

Around the pole with Azfar

Limbo Time

Yummy chocolate ice-cream after the water ballon fights

Thank You Nanna and Papa

For the wonderful gifts Maddy got in the mail on Friday. He received 3 books, one for spelling (which he has completed already), a book called 'Jungle Drums' and a sticker book which he has almost completed too. Along with that came a set of 'go fish' cards :) ... And thanks to Aunty Lagi and Uncle Tolly for the Wedding CD as well.

Fa'afetai Tele Lava

Love Us xxox

Home With No Power!

Yesterday was a bit scary. Tornado warnings started appearing on the tv screen while I was watching HGTV around 2.30pm. Maddy was expected to be home around 3.15pm and I got a little worried. I watched the news and noticed the storm hit Maryland and was approaching us very quickly. Over a period of 20 minutes, it went from light and sunny to dark and gloomy, rain started pouring and then the thunder and lightening came. Bam the power went off. I frantically called the school and they were keeping all the kids there until the storm passed. 30 minutes later it calmed down and I went with a neighbor to pick up Maddy and her two boys from school. They were waiting for permission from the Fairfax County to release the buses to take the kids home. I wasn't going to wait around for that and hurried to his class.

He said he was fine, a little scared but fine. They had to line up in the foyer, crouch down with their hands over their heads and curl up in a turtle position, until the storm passed. He said some of the girls were a little upset, which was fair enough because it was a nasty storm - the worse I have seen in DC since we arrived here.

I was glad that he was home safe with me. Poor Daddy who is currently in Jamaica was calling back and forth making sure we were ok. He kept checking the weather online and keeping us updated. We have to get a small battery operated radio for times like this!!

We lit the candles, played card games, watched half a movie on the laptop until the battery died, munched on fruits and cookies, had chicken meat sandwiches for dinner and then went to bed and read a few books. Soon we both fell asleep. Around 11.30pm the power came back on.

There are still thousands of homes without power as of this morning. Lots of trees have fallen onto powerlines, making it hard for the Dominion workers to get to them.

It looks like we are expecting scattered rain again this afternoon so I'm going to rush off to the store to buy more candles and batteries for our flashlights, oh and a radio too!!

More Bbq's!

After a last minute call from Domenico and Rosie yesterday morning, we were on our way to Mason Neck State Park in Lorton Virginia to meet them for another bbq. You can read all about the park here http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/mas.shtml

Not only did we enjoy the food and company, the kids took part in 'making butter' and finding insects to talk about with the Park Ranger. We also went for a walk through the trails and took pictures along the Lake.